Thousands honor slain border agent

'What he did was confront a situation where uncertainty and doubt abound,' agency's chief says of Robert Rosas

Rosalie Rosas, widow of slain Border Patrol Agent Robert Rosas, held son Robert Matthew, 2, as he set a rose petal on his father's casket at a service yesterday in El Centro. &#160; (John Gibbins / Union-Tribune)

Rosalie Rosas, widow of slain Border Patrol Agent Robert Rosas, held son Robert Matthew, 2, as he set a rose petal on his father's casket at a service yesterday in El Centro. (John Gibbins / Union-Tribune)

EL CENTRO, Calif. 
Not far from an isolated and increasingly dangerous stretch of the U.S.-Mexico border where he lost his life, Border Patrol Agent Robert Rosas was mourned yesterday by thousands who gathered in this desert city to honor one of their own.

An overflow crowd of more than 4,000 at Southwest High School included family members, former classmates, top government officials and numerous fellow law enforcement officers. Hundreds also endured punishing temperatures at a graveside ceremony with bugles, bagpipes and mariachi music.

“What he did was confront a situation where uncertainty and doubt abound,” Border Patrol Chief David Aguilar said.

Rosas, 30, a three-year member of the force, was patrolling alone in the Campo area after 9 p.m. July 23 when someone opened fire near the border fence. Rosas became the first Border Patrol agent killed by gunfire since 1998, according to a Web site that tracks law enforcement deaths.

Mourners remembered Rosas as a man who loved life, a husband and father of two who cherished his family, was devoted to his job and dreamed that son Robert Matthew, 2, would one day follow in his footsteps. Eulogies described Rosas as having both the grit to patrol the lonely stretches of border country, where smugglers move illegal immigrants and drugs, and the sensitivity to cry over a beautiful song.

“I'm sure he knew it was a dangerous job,” said Diana Diaz, who attended McKinley Elementary School with Rosas and graduated with him from Central Union High School. “But it was something he wanted to do as a career for himself.”

Rosas worked for two years as a reserve officer in the El Centro Police Department, then for six as a state prison guard, taking a pay cut to join the Border Patrol.

“He was the kind of guy who couldn't do something if he didn't enjoy what he was doing,” said Jerry Conlin, a spokesman for the Border Patrol's San Diego sector who worked with Rosas in Campo.

Rosas was one of 2,500 agents serving in the San Diego sector, which runs along 61 miles from the Pacific Ocean to the Imperial County line. As elsewhere on the border, assaults against agents have increased in recent years.

Most of the 377 attacks against the sector's agents last year – from rock and bottle throwing to physical altercations – occurred in the urbanized western stretch between the San Ysidro and Otay Mesa crossings. But unpopulated areas such as Campo present their own patrol challenges, Conlin said.

“It's such a remote area. There's a thick, heavy brush throughout. There's canyons,” he said. “Someone working at night, you have no idea what surrounds you because of the terrain.”

East County has long been crisscrossed by smuggling routes, particularly since tighter border enforcement near San Ysidro beginning in the mid-1990s drove illegal border-crossing traffic east.

In the mountainous area surrounding Tecate and east toward Campo, state Route 94 runs close to the border, providing a route into San Diego and the freeway system.